Apple now adding 500,000 new iTunes accounts per day

This week, Apple's chief executive Tim Cook presented a new milestone for iTunes accounts: 575 million. As Asymco's Horace Dediu points out, that means Apple is now adding a half million new accounts on average every day.

Deidiu plotted out Apple's previous milestones announced since 2009 to calculate its current growth rate. If Apple continues at this pace, it will add another 100 million accounts by the end of this year.

Earlier this month, a Morgan Stanley analyst noted that Apple's more than half of a billion iTunes accounts are driving new opportunities for growth, describing Apple's global number of accounts as second only to Facebook's billion, but more importantly generating more revenue per account than even mega-retailer Amazon.

That report also noted that Apple's account base was growing significantly faster than its peers, and those accounts were generating the highest free cash flow per account by a wide margin.

In April, NPD Group released figures giving iTunes a 63 percent share of the US digital music market, three times that of second place Amazon (at 22 percent), and in video downloads, a 67 percent share of TV shows and 65 percent of movies.

Amazon and Microsoft's Xbox were tied in second place for movies with 10 percent shares, and collectively shared a 22 percent slice of the TV downloads market. Google Play and other digital media download services didn't figure into the top 80 percent of any category.

That is the reason, why Apple also needs the iPhone Cheaper. This ecosystem can skyrocket, when many people, now using aCrap Free, realize that paying something small to get a value is way better than getting no value for free..

It saddens me that this isn't reflected in the stock price. Clear evidence that the stock market is irrational.

Shareholders who understand Apple's unique value still lose out even though they understand what the market doesn't, simply because the market determines the value, even if they don't understand what they are actually evaluating.

That is the reason, why Apple also needs the iPhone Cheaper. This ecosystem can skyrocket, when many people, now using aCrap Free, realize that paying something small to get a value is way better than getting no value for free..

I think a better reason is how expensive the iPhone is. Locally here in Ireland I always hear people saying they'd buy an iPhone if they were less expensive. And those same folks don't want a two year old model like the 4, over the brand new Samsung phone they all end up acquiring. Most people go off-contract here. The 16 GB model iPhone 5 here costs €679. That's $905.

If Apple can come up with something compelling for the mid end of the market that still makes them money and doesn't eat too much into their main phone, I say they should go for it. The timing feels right this year. Kill all their old small screened phones, and bring out two new phones: the iPhone 5S (or 6), and a less expensive model for those who would absolutely buy a new iPhone if only it were a little cheaper.

They can keep them enough apart in features and power, thinness and lightness that the premium phone will still remain the most appealing model. Samsung stock will be in huge trouble if Apple goes there.

I think a better reason is how expensive the iPhone is. Locally here in Ireland I always hear people saying they'd buy an iPhone if they were less expensive. And those same folks don't want a two year old model like the 4, over the brand new Samsung phone they all end up acquiring. Most people go off-contract here. The 16 GB model iPhone 5 here costs €679. That's $905.

If Apple can come up with something compelling for the mid end of the market that still makes them money and doesn't eat too much into their main phone, I say they should go for it. The timing feels right this year. Kill all their old small screened phones, and bring out two new phones: the iPhone 5S (or 6), and a less expensive model for those who would absolutely buy a new iPhone if only it were a little cheaper.

What do they buy instead? I'm also from Europe and I know S4 for example and all other premium Android phones cost pretty much the same. I suppose people you are mentioning would just like cheaper phone and will not buy direct competitor to iPhone 5. Apple wants those users in ecosystem, too and they can still earn some money on device. This doesn't mean that current model is too expensive. It's not. Others have almost the same prices and only Samsung is making profit, so iPhone price is not relatively too big. It is just absolutely too big for price delicate customers.

Apple made a big deal about pointing out how many accounts with credit cards they have. The other shoe is potentially two-fold:

1) Allow account credit without going to a physical store and buying an iTunes card. Let me transfer a bulk amount from my card/bank account at a time, and consolidate my billing. Let me add as many cards to my account as I want, and let me have multiple users (this is a much larger topic in need of attention)

2) Passbook payments in physical stores, and 1-click in e-commerce stores using said credit. iTunes account becomes a debit card with as many bank accounts funding it as I like. This is a killer app.

[quote name="Ireland" url="/t/158042/apple-now-adding-500-000-new-itunes-accounts-per-day#post_2346115"] And those same folks don't want a two year old model like the 4 quote]

I dont understand this premise of wanting a new cheap iphone over a two year old model.

Would a cheaper iPhone be any better than their two year old model? Yes they may drive the price down with plastic, etc. but the bulk of the components would have to be equivalent to or less than the parts from the two year old phone or they have to cut physical features.

They may choose to keep some parts current like the camera but then they'd have to cut even more somewhere else.

So while a new cheap iPhone would/will be a new design and according to rumors available in colors, it won't be that "new" under the hood.

That is the reason, why Apple also needs the iPhone Cheaper. This ecosystem can skyrocket, when many people, now using aCrap Free, realize that paying something small to get a value is way better than getting no value for free..

Half a million accounts per day isn't what you'd consider 'skyrocketing'? I don't believe anyone that needs a cheaper iPhone will do much to boost the ecosystem.